Saturday, October 17, 2015

OFF THE WIREagingrebel.com
Yesterday afternoon, just under the 30-day legal deadline, Assistant
United States Attorney Christopher Brunwin gave notice that he was going
to appeal the dismissal of a case called United States versus Mongols Nation.
A month ago, Federal District Judge David O. Carter dismissed the October 2013 indictment that was the basis for the Mongols Nation
case and Brunwin is appealing that decision. Brunwin hasn’t yet filed a
brief in the appeal. He is simply announcing that he thinks Carter’s 23
page ruling contains reversible legal errors. Notice of appeal in a
federal court is usually made within ten days of a ruling.
The appeal will be made to the Ninth Circuit Court. Appeals to the
Ninth Circuit are the slowest in the federal system. The average time
between notice of appeal and a judgment is about 18 months. About 75
percent of all appeals to the Ninth are decided solely on the basis of
briefs submitted by the opposing lawyers without legal argument. The
Mongols are represented by Los Angeles attorneys Joe Yanny and Elliot H.
Min. For the last seven years, Brunwin’s co-counsel in the crusade
against the Mongols has been Stephen R. Welk. Welk is the head of the
asset forfeiture division of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central
District of California.
Appeals are expensive and the decision to appeal Carter’s dismissal
would not have been made by either Brunwin or Welk. The decision to
appeal would have been made by either Central District of California
U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker or someone higher in the chain of command in
the Justice Department. Decker is a former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor who
assumed her current job three and a half months ago.

The Clothes Police

The most recent racketeering case against the Mongols began with a case called U.S. versus Cavazos et al.
in October 2008. Brunwin indicted 79 members of the Mongols Motorcycle
Club and the press release that announced the indictment contained this
astounding passage:
“The racketeering indictment seeks the forfeiture of the trademarked
‘Mongols’ name, which is part of the ‘patch’ members wear on their
motorcycle jackets.
“‘In addition to pursuing the criminal charges set forth in the
indictment, for the first time ever, we are seeking to forfeit the
intellectual property of a gang,’ said United States Attorney Thomas P.
O’Brien. ‘The name “Mongols,” which is part of the gang’s “patch” that
members wear on their motorcycle jackets, was trademarked by the gang.
The indictment alleges that this trademark is subject to forfeiture. We
have filed papers seeking a court order that will prevent gang members
from using or displaying the name “Mongols.” If the court grants our
request for this order, then if any law enforcement officer sees a
Mongol wearing his patch, he will be authorized to stop that gang member
and literally take the jacket right off his back.’”
Taking the jacket right off the backs of Mongols has become a quest
for the Department of Justice. As has harassing the Mongols with legal
proceedings.

Not Constitutional Issue

The constitutional issue of seizing the Mongols’ name and symbols
seems well resolved. Unless the name and symbols pose a real threat to
somebody other than Brunwin, Welk and Decker they are legal expressions
of opinion. Brunwin, Welk and Decker know it so the government has been
playing cute games around that issue for years.
The point of the recent, Mongols Nation case has always been to seize
the Mongols patch and, in turn, the patches of every other motorcycle
club. It is a recurring theme in the global war on motorcycle clubs.
Various states in Australia, depending heavily on the coaching of
“motorcycle gang experts” from the American Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives have actually banned the display of motorcycle
club insignia. In Waco, Texas, a local prosecutor named Abel Reyna
ordered the arrest of scores of people on the basis of the symbols they
wore even though there was absolutely no proof that any of them had
committed any crime.
In the Mongols Nation case, Brunwin and Welk sought a trial
to prove that the Mongols Motorcycle Club was a criminal enterprise that
used its insignia for criminal purposes. The government’s plan was to
first, convict the club as a whole for racketeering and then start
forfeiture proceedings to seize the club’s name and patch. At the risk
of oversimplification, Carter didn’t allow the case to proceed because
“nobody was going to jail.” He ruled that the government couldn’t indict
the Mongols as an “enterprise” for racketeering without also indicting a
group who can be actually punished. He wrote that the government had
made “no meaningful distinction between the association Mongol Nation
and the enterprise of the Mongols Gang,” So with nobody to punish, there
could be no case. It was as if the government had indicted the stars or
the sea.
But, after eight years, the government still won’t give up. The quest continues.

Sometime in the next month or so, Brunwin will write a brief that
explains the errors in Judge Carter’s reasoning. Until then, the only
thing that is certain is that the government does not intend to stop
until some judge somewhere rules that police can actually detain you for
your fashion choices and if the police don’t approve of them they can
literally rip your clothes off.